The purpose of this study was to examine the use of manipulative materials in mathematics education with the main focus on grades 4 to 6. With the use of a phenomenological approach all the aspects of this phenomenon was examined. Qualitative interviews, participant observations and comparative content analysis of textbooks has been conducted to investigate the use of manipulative materials in mathematics education. The results indicates that the teachers that were interviewed possesses good knowledge of this teaching method. However these teachers struggled to find time to put this method into practice and there was not enough teachers to attend these classes.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine the ideological currents that have influenced the swedish school system since the 1990's. The background of my interest is the lively debate in schools and media about the new School reform 2011. My hypothesis is that education in 2011 largely will be influenced by neoliberal and neoconservative values. The method I`ve used is discourse and ideology critique, which examines the relationship between rhetoric and power. These concepts are useful to explain the ideological change in different policy documents and in curricula, for example Lpf 94 and School 2001. The theoretical framework is based primarily on the neoliberal and the neoconservative agenda, which are two distinct political rationalities in the contemporary postmodern world.

I have through qualitative interviews and analysis of previous research in the area searched answers to what tablets are used for in preschools and the reason why they are used in this way. In addition, it examines the similarities and differences there are in how teachers and children describe the use of the tool in preschool. The study is also looking for answers on whether and how the plates are used to develop children's scientific knowledge. There are six teachers and 14 children's statement that forms the basis for the analysis. The results indicate that tablets are used for two purposes.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether teachers are involved in children´s play, what their perspectives are on the importance of play and what conditions teachers have to stimulate children in their playing. In this study, I?ve been able to verify that play has a great value for children?s learning development. My method have been interviewing four teachers at a kindergarten in order to examine educators? perspective on the importance of play.The results of my investigation showed that teachers believe that play and role- play have a major impact on children's learning.

More and more people in our society take part in adult education. In this study, eight students in adult education, the majority with a diagnosis such as ADHD and/or reading- and writing disorders/dyslexia,have been interviewed about their current study situation. The interviews have so party treated topics related to earlier schooling and the future. Earlier studies and available literature is to a large extent written from the perspective of children?s and adolescents? study situation and the question is if this is applicable to students in adult education.

The main purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine the existence of criteria and to what extent high school students use these criteria when they are collecting information for a school assignment. I also compare students attending different high school programmes with each other and compare students on different levels of education.I have done a quantitative study with 284 students in which the students have filled out questionnaires.The result shows that the most common way to evaluate information is to compare sources with each other. Students also look at how the information is written, and they want the information to be detailed and easily available. More seldom used criteria include consideration of the authority of the writer, determination of how up to date the information is, and gauging the perspective of the information.The result also shows that students attending a high school programme that prepares them for higher education are better at evaluating information than students attending a high school programme of vocational preparation. Students at a higher level of education are also better at evaluating information than students at a lower level of education. .

Abstract Syftet med studien var att ta reda på och synliggöra hur förskollärare ser på sitt arbete med planerade aktiviteter på två förskolor. Metoderna som användes var intervjuer och videoobservationer. Intervjuerna var ett sätt att få en bild av förskollärares syn på gruppaktiviteter med barn i åldrarna tre till fem år. Videoobservationerna var ett sätt att få möjlighet att fördjupa och förstå hur arbetet ser ut i praktiken. Frågeställningarna för studien bygger på sju centrala begrepp delaktighet, inflytande, gemenskap, samhörighet, utanförskap, barns intresse och nyfikenhet som också var grunden för intervjuerna med förskollärarna.

Today we see a growing need and interest in working towards sustainable development. To be able to contribute to a sustainable development as individuals/business we need to emphasize the importance of education and contextualisation that learning occurs in a sense that is relevant to the learner.This is the background to this study, which in turn is the basis for an education that focuses on how to environmentally secure your purchases, an opportunity for us to set environmental standards purchasing products and services. The process for purchase is considered by many to be a key factor in businesses work towards sustainable development. Key people in this process and target audience for this education is environmental, purchasing and procurement managers.The purpose of this study is to design an education calledMiljösäkrade inköp from the target audiences? knowledge, interests and attitudes, together with literature.

Today?s Sweden becomes more and more multicultural, with a mixture of many different languages. Many children are raised to learn two or more parent languages. If you work as an educationalist in preschool you will probably come in contact with these children. The question is how you should treat them and ease their development of languages.The purpose with this work is to find answers to the question if bilingual children develop their languages by the same method as monolingual and how one as an educationalist can make these children?s development of language easier.The papers preface is a part of literature that describes different researchers view on the bilingual children?s development of language and how one, as an educationalist, can ease it.To my study I have chosen to interview three educationalists in preschool who all work with bilingual children.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the lower secondary school teaching in religion leads to a positive understanding and openness, concerning different religions and cultures. We want to study how pupils in grade eight and nine in two lower secondary schools in a multicultural community comprehend different religions. Since we choose a pupils perspective we decided to do a questionnaire to get a wide ground. As a complement we interviewed twelve pupils and also did observations during their religion classes. During our study we focused on three different themes.

This is a thesis in Personal- och Arbetslivsprogrammet at Dalarna University with thepurpose of evaluating an education initiative in Borlänge kommun. The educationCoaching Leadership is an initiative for the managers in the organization to exercisegood leadership and the education also serves as an incentive for managers. Eightbusiness managers and one from the HR staff have completed the training. Out of thetotal 9 participants in the training, six of them took part in this evaluation. Based on thethesis aim and questions we wanted to explore participants' attitudes to the education,and what skills and abilities they have acquired on the basis of educational goals andcontent.

There is a general conception among those who are involved in the school-sector that there is a relation between resources and results. Better qualified teachers, smaller classes and schools with more finacial funding are regarded as better learning and development conditions for pupils (Gustafsson 2008). In spite of these widespread understanding, educational and economic research studies at the beginning of the 20th century had reached the verdict that resources have no bearing on educational results (Gustafsson 2008). The Swedish board of education (Skolverket) have published several reports, studies and surveys regarding the relation between resources and student outcomes.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the message of six publications from the Swedish board of education around the relationship between resources and student outcomes on the basis of the decentralization of the Swedish school in the 1990´s. The central question at issue is whether the Swedish board of education has been consistent in their message about the relationship between resources and results in the six publications between 1994-2009? I have also attempted to answer the resulting questions of my conclusion.This study is based on a qualitative text analysis.

Children?s use of mobile devices is constantly increasing and has become very popular withchildren as young as toddlers. Schools in Sweden have made large investments to expand theuse of information technology (IT), and the use of mobile devices in preschools is already acommon support tool for learning. Children?s use of IT is a relatively new phenomenon,which means that is it also a relatively new area of research.

The study aims to describe how art teachers conduct their teaching towards the new curriculum requirements, hence, to the must-haves of society towards the art education. As a future art teacher, I have an interest in finding out how the art teachers tackles the new requirements despite substance plight. The study has revealed that resources for the art education, both financial and time varies from school to school. Which says something about a very unfair situation for the teachers..

School ground development is becoming increasingly popular in Sweden today and local community settings are also seen as an important resource for education. The debate today raises the question about the whole city?s pedagogic potential. Outdoor education is a pedagogy that comprises outdoor learning with focus on the sensual experiences. Connection to the classroom education is an important part of the pedagogy and so is the place for the tuition.But how should the place for the tuition, i.e.